1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a document management system, a control method which is applicable to the document management system, and a recording medium which stores a program to achieve the relevant control method. More particularly, the present invention relates a document management system in which a document transmission device of transmitting input image data, a document management server of associating as a document the received image data with a folder and storing them, and a document management client of, for example, browsing the image data of the document stored in the document management server are connected with others through a communication network, a control method which is adapted to the document management system, a recording medium which stores a program to achieve the relevant control method, and the program itself.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, a document management system in which a document management server and a document management client are connected to each other through a communication network is proposed. More specifically, the document management server is the server which functions to associate document management information such as an index and the like with image data of a document created by, for example, reading data of printed characters, figures, images and the like by a scanner or the like, and document data generated by a word processor or the like, and to store them, and the document management client is the client which functions to, for example, retrieve, display and print the stored information.
Moreover, as a document management system like this, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-085178 proposes a system to which a digital multifunctional device capable of reading an original, generating original image data and transmitting the generated image data is connected through the communication. In this system, the image data transmitted from the digital multifunctional device can be registered as a document in a document management server.
As shown in FIG. 16, the document management server of this type consists of, for example, a document management client 1600, a document management server 1601, an image transfer device 1606 and a digital multifunctional device 1607, and these devices are mutually connected through a communication network 1608. Further, the document management server 1601 consists of an attribute management server unit 1602, an attribute database file 1603, a volume server unit 1604 and a volume file 1605. The attribute management server unit 1602 is an RDBMS (relational database management system) which is adapted to manage or administrate an inclusive relation of a folder, a document and a page and their attributes so that image data and document data can be managed as documents stored in hierarchical folders. In this connection, the folder attribute, the document attribute, the page attribute and the like are stored in the attribute database file 1603. The volume server unit 1604 is a server which is adapted to manage real data associated with the page in the attribute management server unit 1602. In this connection, the image data, the document data and the like are stored in the volume file 1605.
The document management client 1600 which is a client in the document management system can, for example, retrieve, search and display the documents managed by the document management server 1601. In this case, the document management client 1600 transmits various requests to the attribute management server unit 1602, and receives relevant processed results from the attribute management server unit 1602, on the basis of an SQL (Structured Query Language) protocol defined on a TCP/IP (Transmission Control. Protocol/Internet Protocol). Moreover, when processes to the image data and the document data are executed, the document management client 1600 transmits various requests to the volume server unit 1604, and receives relevant processed results from the volume server unit 1604, on the basis of an RPC (Remote Procedure Call).
The digital multifunctional device 1607 acts as an image formation device having multiple functions such as a copy function, a scanner function, a printer function, a facsimile function, and the like, and the digital multifunctional device 1607 transmits image data read from a scanner and image data received through a facsimile to the image transfer device 1606 based on a communication network protocol such as an FTP (file transfer protocol). The image transfer device 1606 is adapted to register the image data received from the digital multifunctional device 1607 based on the communication network such as the FTP or the like in the document management server 1601 as the documents on the basis of registration control information such as preset storage destination folder, index and the like. Here, the information transfer control between the image transfer device 1606 and the document management server 1601 is substantially the same as that between the document management client 1600 and the document management server 1601. Incidentally, it should be noted that the registration control information is the information in which “size”, “attribute information (e.g., XXX Co. Ltd.)”, “index” and the like of the storage destination folder (that is, the folder of the destination at which the data should be stored) have been preset.
As just described, in the document management system according to the related background art, it is necessary not only to preset in the image transfer device 1606 the registration control information for the document management server 1601, but also to preset in the digital multifunctional device 1607 the transmission destination information such as a protocol used for file transmission, a transmission-destination host name, a folder path, a user name, a password and the like for the image transfer device 1606. For this reason, when the registration control information is newly created, or when the registration control information is changed due to a change of the folder structure of the document management server 1601, it is necessary to cerate and/or change not only the registration control information in the image transfer device 1606 but also the transmission destination information in the digital multifunctional device 1607, whereby a problem that operations for creating and changing the registration control information become complicated occurs.
Moreover, in a case where a document is registered, the target which is displayed on the digital multifunctional device 1607 and thus able to be designated by a user is the transmission destination information associated with the registration control information in the image transfer device 1606, whereby it is impossible to individually confirm and designate the content of the registration control information. Furthermore, the transmission destination information in the digital multifunctional device 1607 is created as the information to be shared by all the users of the digital multifunctional device 1607, whereby it is difficult to designate desired registration control information with respect to each user in the document management server 1601 or with respect to each document registration. For this reason, a problem that it is impossible from the digital multifunctional device 1607 to flexibly designate the registration control information through a simple operation occurs.
Incidentally, as another conventional document management system, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-358857 proposes a system in which, when a document scanned by a digital multifunctional device is registered as a file, date and time of the scanning is automatically set as a file name at the time of the registration.
In this connection, when only the date and time is indicated as the file name of the stored document, it is very difficult for a user to understand and grasp the content of the relevant document when referring to it, whereby there is a possibility that the user hits on addition of a character string indicating a relevant theme (e.g., “regular report—2003505.pdf” etc.) to the document name. However, even in such a case, the user has to manually change the file name in the document management system, whereby time and trouble become necessary and use of the system becomes inefficient. Moreover, in a case where a fixed character string is designated as the document name with respect to each address (i.e., destination) by using a document registration application, all the documents in the folder of the certain storage destination have the document names “identical (same) character string+date and time”. It cannot absolutely be said that the document name of this type is comprehensible. Furthermore, in a case where a document name is designated on the digital multifunctional device, although an arbitrary document name can be created, it is necessary for the user to input necessary characters and number symbols on a keyboard screen on an operation panel of the digital multifunctional device, whereby time and trouble become necessary due to its operationality (troublesome working).